Currently Reading Vol.2

My reading habit is a fragile one. I am forever feeling guilty that I am not reading enough, not going to reach my yearly goal, that I am falling behind on goodreads… Why would this be such a fragile habit, when it’s something that I genuinely enjoy doing so much? I blame it on bad books. Seriously.

I am partially at fault here because I seem to be incapable of simply putting down a book I have already started, even if I don’t like it. Stupid, right? I mean, life is too short to spend it reading something we don’t enjoy. But somehow I feel bad leaving things unfinished, and I keep telling myself that I can learn something even from a mediocre book (valid point, but do I have to??).

If you are also dreading going back to the book you are currently reading, take this as an intervention: put it down, and maybe pick one of the following instead:

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

★★★★★

For the past week I haven’t been able to shut up about this book. It’s based on the true story of Lale Sokolov, his years in the concentration camp, and how he found love there. It hooked me right from the start, and I read it in under a week (which is fast for me), under the watchful eye of a bunch of confused people on the metro, who were probably wondering why I was crying. Heather Morris finds the perfect balance between love and despair, and keeps the reader on edge until the very last page. The determination to stay alive of some of the characters and their ability to remain hopeful even in the worst of circumstances is truly inspiring.

No Word from Gurb (Sin noticias de Gurb)

★★★★☆

No Word from Gurb, which I read in its original version in Spanish, is a hilarious novel by Eduardo Mendoza which takes place in Barcelona in the early ’90s. The main character is an alien that has been stranded in the city, and is looking for his partner, Gurb, to help him fix the spaceship. In the meantime the alien tries to blend in with the humans, adopting their customs and behaviour, resulting in a hilarious parody of the city and its inhabitants. This is a great book if you are feeling stressed or anxious, to get your mind off of things and just have a good laugh. Some parts were so funny I even had to take pictures of the pages and upload them to my Instagram Stories… that’s how you know.

Everything I Know About Love

★★★★☆

Everything I Know About Love is the memoir of Dolly Alderton from her teenage years, to her 28th birthday. Now, I am not usually much of a memoir person, I much prefer a novel, but boy, was this book good! Dolly tells the unfiltered truth about situations we have all (or most) been in: breakups, job interviews, drunk nights, friendship… and she does so in an almost healing way. I swear after reading some of the chapters I had to let out a sigh of relief and think to myself “it’s not just me”. I laughed, cried, cringed and all the in-betweens, and finished the book wanting nothing but more.

Note to Self

★★★☆☆ (but maybe more like 2.5)

I wanted to read this book because I have followed Conor Franta on Youtube for years now, and have always enjoyed his content. In this book you can find some of his photography, poetry and bigger blocks of text that feel a bit like diary entries. Sadly, this book was not what I was expecting. The photography was beautiful, as well as the edition of the book, but the text felt a bit… self-centered? It was not a biography per say, it was his “unfiltered, unedited thoughts”, but I found it hard to relate to them or to find any value in them that I could apply to my daily life. I must confess, I skimmed through the last 20 pages, so I could move on to the next book.

And there you have it! The books I have been reading recently. Soonish I would like to read An Edited Life by Anna Newton, as well as The Only Story by Julian Barnes. Do let me know if you have any good book recommendations that I can add to the list, and I will make sure to report soon with another volume of Currently Reading.